Representing the Colorado Livestock Association, Trent Horton participated in the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s 2016 Young Cattlemen’s Conference (NCBA’s YCC). Over 50 cattle producers from across the country and across the industry attended the conference. Trent was selected by his fellow producers to participate in the 2016 class.

Trent Horton is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, where he obtained a degree in Business Administration. He grew up in and around the Wellington, Colorado area where he worked for the family feedlot business from grade school throughout high school. Outside of the family business while in College he held jobs such as landscaping and framing homes.

Since graduating from the University of Wyoming he has had the opportunity to do all of the tasks involved within the feedlot business. He has earned his way to now being an owner, partner and General Manager of Horton Feedlots and Diamond Feeders.

Trent and his wife, Kristin, have two children; Blake, age 18; and Bryn, age 16. Trent has enjoyed being a volunteer coach in various sports including baseball and softball. Helping kids, not just his own, excel athletically, mentoring them, and watching them grow has been very rewarding for him.

NCBA’s YCC program is an opportunity for these young leaders to gain an understanding of all aspects of the beef industry from pasture to plate, and showcase the industry’s involvement in policy making, issues management, research, education and marketing.

Beginning at the NCBA headquarters in Denver, CO., the group got an inside look at many of the issues affecting the beef industry and the work being done on both the state and national level to address these issues on behalf of the NCBA membership. While in Denver, participants were given an organizational overview of NCBA and the Beef Checkoff Program and CattleFax provided a comprehensive overview of the current cattle market and emerging trends. At Safeway, the participants received a first-hand account of the retail perspective of the beef business and then toured the JBS Five Rivers Kuner feedyard, one of the largest in the nation, and the JBS Greeley packing and processing plant.

From Denver, the group traveled to Chicago where they visited McDonald’s Campus and OSI, one of the nation’s premiere beef patty producers. After the brief stop in Chicago, the group concluded their trip in Washington D.C., for an in-depth issues briefing on current policy issues including international trade and increasing environmental regulations. Following the issues update, the participants were given the opportunity to visit one-on-one with members of their state’s congressional delegation, expressing their viewpoints regarding the beef industry and their cattle operations. John Deere then hosted a reception in the evening at their office.

The following morning, the group then traveled to Aldie, Va., for a tour and barbeque at Whitestone Farms, one of the nation’s elite purebred Angus operations.

With the beef industry changing rapidly, identifying and educating leaders has never been so important. As a grassroots trade association representing the beef industry the NCBA is proud to play a role in that process and its future success. Over 1,000 cattlemen and women have graduated from the YCC program since its inception in 1980. Many of these alumni have gone to serve in state and national committees, councils and boards. YCC is the cornerstone of leadership training in the cattle industry.